Best MC Cartridge $300.00 or less

Mr eber, Was warning Felix to "be careful" a threat? I sincerely hope not. I too have been lurking around these boards for a while, and to be perfectly honest, I've found you to be a boorish lout. Your lack of knowledge, combined with a shouting, opinionated style, makes you too dangerous a creature to be passing out advice to people looking for help. I have zero tolerance for a bottom feeder such as yourself, so be a good boy now carl, and take a bit of time away from this forum to at least brush up on your manners, we'll start on your audio education after you return.... John

For what its worth I have had the original Bluepoint and the BBS in my system. My current cartridge is the Dynavector 10X4, and yes it does blow away the BBS in every regard. After a long run of upgrades in my system, I couldn't come up with the extra scratch for the Benz Glider so I got the Dyna. I have been surprised at how good that cartridge is. It has won quite a few shoot outs at various mags. (Not that it matters). Also a great phono stage is the EAR 834P, which is a tubed phono stage by Tim de Paravicini. New it costs $900. I find it much better than the phono stage in my Audible Illusions Modulus 3A. Between my Basis 1400 the Dynavector and the EAR my Vinyl collection has grown considerably. Although I think there is a Benz Glider in my future... Best-Gary

Hi Gary. I've compared the Glider [both the HO and the LO versions] to the 10x4 and other than the tonality of the carts [the Glider having a warmer, less focused presentation], the differences in sound quality are not as great as the price spread might imply. The Benz beats the Dyna in terms of soundstage depth, but the Dyno is a faster, more detailed sounding transducer with tighter, deeper bass response and a greater sense of clarity. I don't know about you, but I prefer to make big jumps when upgrading. With that in mind, you may want to consider a Lyra Lydian Beta or a Transfiguration Spirit, if you're comfortable with a tonal balance similar to the 10x4, or a Dyna XX-1 or a Benz LO4 [the Dyna being more refined of the two] for a more lush, albeit less precise and focused, depiction of the recorded event. All four offer sizable gains in resolution compared to the 10x4 and the Glider. I used to run an EAR also, before I bought my Ayre a few years back, and had very good luck with JAN 5751s. They're very inexpensive and even if you don't like the resulting change in sound, they're kinda fun to play with [G]. Best Wishes, Felix

Mean while back at the ranch. Maybe I will just stick to the Grado Platinum.

Felix-Thanks for the feedback. I think i'll be keeping my Dyna for a while. How do you like you Ayre preamp, I currently have an Ayre V3 amp which I love. Anything I put in it's place just doesn't sound as right to me. A truly under rated company. All the best-Gary